They say good things come to those who wait and, after nearly three decades without a global tournament in their city, the people of Lahore saw their patience rewarded. A good number in the crowd were too young to remember the 1996 World Cup but they will not forget Australia’s five-wicket victory over England in a hurry.
Set 352 to win this Group B encounter after Ben Duckett’s sublime 165 from 143 balls – the highest individual score at a Champions Trophy – Australia duly pulled off a record run chase at an ICC event. It was barely even a nail-biter by the end, Josh Inglis guiding his colleagues home in the 48th over when he whipped Mark Wood over midwicket for his sixth six of the night and walked off a cool 120 not out.
Jos Buttler tried his best to smile amid the pain inflicted by Inglis’s 86-ball gut-punch, this his England team’s fifth one-day international defeat in a row. With Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc all back in Australia, it was a missed opportunity all right; one that has plunged them into must-win territory when they meet Afghanistan and South Africa next week. Australia, tournament animals, conversely have wriggle room.
Things had started so brightly for Buttler after the change of innings too, with Travis Head and Steve Smith wiped out for single-figure scores during a fiery new ball burst from Jofra Archer and Wood. But on a run-soaked pitch, plus an outfield quicker than a Lee Mack one-liner, no one could confidently state the Champions Trophy’s highest ever total – England’s highest at an ICC event – would be enough.
Australia just kept coming. It was the wiry Matthew Short who pushed back initially with 63 from 66 balls, aided by Marnus Labuschagne’s 47 from No 4. Then came the partnership that had the wonderfully engaged crowd bouncing in the refurbished stands. Inglis and Alex Carey, 69, put on 146 in just shy of 20 overs, before Glenn Maxwell, 32 not out from 15, did his thing.
As has long been their calling card, Australia also fielded tigerishly, exemplified by Carey – a wicketkeeper by trade – holding three excellent catches in the outfield. The first, when Phil Salt thought he had cleared mid-on on 10, sparked instant chatter about those Aussie Rules days back in South Australia: a one-handed mark at full stretch that Tony Modra would have been proud of.
At the other end Duckett purred, one half of a 158-run fourth-wicket stand alongside Joe Root, 68, and the glue for England’s innings as a whole. It saw the opener’s hard work improving his game in the “V” pay off handsomely, even if the back-to-back fours struck off Spencer Johnson to seal his third ODI century were less orthodox tennis smashes. Folks told Duckett he needed to be greedier and he duly tucked in.
Beyond Root’s calm rebuild, however, the support for Duckett was all too fleeting. Smith marshalled his patched-up attack as smartly as possible in the circumstances. Adam Zampa’s two for 64 was another reminder of his qualities, while a second leg-spinner, albeit a less celebrated one in Labuschagne, chipped in with a couple more.
This always felt like a game that would be decided by small moments; moments such as Archer swatting 21 runs off 10 balls at the death possibly, or Australia struggling at times to close out their overs. Indeed, England struck the sixth ball of the over to the rope 13 times, a figure no team in ODI history has bettered.
But deep in the chase came the moment Buttler would rue when Carey, having glided to 49, pulled Adil Rashid to deep midwicket and Archer fumbled it. The fast bowler did pick up a hand injury in India, something tested early when removing Head with a smart caught and bowled. Still, smarting or not, this second chance should have been held.
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Although given the way Maxwell played when he eventually strode out – at 282 for five in the 42 over, rather than 248 in the 38th – perhaps this is over-egging it. Like England, Australia had packed their batting order and nothing was ever going to be settled until their fuzzy-forearmed magician was back in the hutch.
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Maxwell was in some mood, smoking four fours and two sixes to ensure Carey’s ice-cold work was not undone. There was no upstaging Inglis, however, who followed his maiden Test century, in Sri Lanka last month, with a first in ODI cricket. Pulling a six off Archer to get there was salt in the wound, even if all three English quicks travelled.
Inglis, who was born in Yorkshire before his family moved to Perth just shy of his 15th birthday, is a bit like England’s match as a whole: the one that got away.
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